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Welcome to another DIY gift! This is a method for making your own soap right in your kitchen. Homemade soap is an excellent gift or addition to your own home.

Cold Process vs Melt and Pour

There are two major methods of making soap. The first and more traditional method is cold process. This method uses lye and requires a curing process. It requires a bit more skill and is not ideal for children.

The second method is melt and pour. The name is self explanatory. You use a soap base and melt it then pour it into a mold. You can purchase soap base from craft stores in either white or clear. Alternately you can purchase ready made bars of soap and melt it down.

In this post I use already made soap bars as I was unable to get soap base and it worked fine.

WHAT YOU NEED

Soap base (craft store soap base or readymade soap)

Scent-essential oils or soap scent

Add-ins- I used loose leaf tea. You can use soap add ins or other herbs, dried flowers etc.

WHAT TO DO

Bring water to a boil in a saucepan

Place shredded soap into a heat safe bowl and place that on top of the boiling water.

Add water as needed to mixture until it becomes thick and smooth.

Add scent and any colouring desired.

Spray mold with cooking spray to make removal easier.

Pour soap into mold and add add-ins

Spray the top of the soap mixture with rubbing alcohol to get rid of the bubbles.

Place into refrigerator or a cool dry place and allow the soap to dry out. Note that the more water you add in the melting process the longer it will take to dry.

Remove soap carefully from mold.

Lightly score the soap to decide where to cut.

Once you have sliced the soap you can allow it to completely dry out

Wrap and gift!

This is an awesome DIY gift, the type of thing your friends will want to receive. Try it out and have an awesome day!

It’s proper summer right now meaning days are hotter than ever . The thought of summer time always evokes pinterest worthy visions in my mind…. fresh bright fun food, eaten by a poolside or hanging out on your deck, firepit on, citronella candles ablaze, everyone relaxed and laughing….ah yes, summer.

Well this isn’t my reality, I live in a small apartment with a smaller balcony, no deck or firepit and I’m never relaxed. But I do have a citronella candle so I get one pinterest point there.

Anyhow, while perusing pinterest a few days ago looking for some meal inspiration I came across a delicious looking salad which in addition to the regular greens contained strawberries and was topped with balsamic vinegar. I am a super fan of mixing different tastes together e.g. sweet and salty and this made me excited. I decided to make this into a pizza because I always associate pizza with summer. This recipe takes a fresh summer salad and tosses it onto a crust.

Let us begin…

This salad pizza is made using watercress, strawberries and blue cheese as the main ingredients but really your imagination is your only limit to the toppings you use. You can use kale, arugula, add almonds or walnuts, swap the strawberries with blueberries etc.

WHAT YOU NEED

1) Pita bread- I chose this for my crust because I think it adds to the overall aesthetic of the pizza, also pita bread is typically much cheaper than premade pizza crust and way less work than making your own. The ones I got are small and whole wheat .

1) Coat the pita bread with olive oil making sure to get the edges, this makes it crisp up nicely without getting burnt.

2) Place the watercress on top of the oiled up pita.

Watercress on top of pita

3) Add sliced strawberries (I used one medium sized one)

Sliced strawberries added

4) Sprinkle blue cheese on .

Sprinkled on blue cheese crumbles

5) Bake on oven until the cheese has melted and the pita looks browned.

6) Add Greek yogurt in small dollops over pizza.

7)Tear the mint leaves and add on top. ( I also put on a few more pieces of watercress and strawberry slices for a combination of textures.)

8) Drizzle honey across the top of the pizza.

Yogurt and honey added on top

So if I make something and post about it, it’s expected that I say it tastes “Oh so good!” . But, let me tell you. This. Tastes. Soooo. Good. The truth is that I was winging it most of the time. I didn’t know how these things would work out all mixed together. However, it worked. It worked well. The strawberries are tart, the yogurt adds creamy surprising texture, the blue cheese pops and the mint is refreshing. All of that on the background of the crispy pita and watercress made this delightful. This is a great as an appetizer or personal pizza.